The Dream of Gerontius, oratorio… | Details | AllMusic google+ Description by Wayne Reisig "This, if anything of mine, is worth your memory," wrote Edward Elgar (quoting Ruskin) regarding his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. The composer, often self-deprecating about even his most ambitious works, felt that this effort, inspired by a poem of Cardinal Newman , represented his finest music. Elgar received a copy of Newman's poem as a wedding present from his priest, and it struck a particular chord with him; in fact, the poem -- which explained Roman Catholic theological views on the immortal soul in an accessible manner -- had a tremendous vogue in the late Victorian era. Elgar edited the text down to about half its orginal size for the sake of musical economy, but he managed to do so without altering the essence of the poem. The 1900 premiere under Richter at the Birmingham Festival was marred by insufficient rehearsal, but at its German premiere a year later it was hailed as a masterpiece. Subsequent British performances quickly established the work in the repertory.

The central character of Gerontius is an imperfect, yet decent, man who is riddled with doubts on his deathbed. An angel comes to him during his last moments to give him a glimpse of the afterlife, culminating in an overwhelming vision of God. Gently the angel returns his ward to a death which will now be a peaceful transition. The prelude to the oratorio commences with a fade-in, as a candle's light would gradually illuminate a dark room. Here the hesitating, vague rhythm would seem to represent the labored breathing of the dying man. A typically Elgar ian martial theme emerges, in major but quickly souring into anguished minor, evoking a crisis of faith. Part One of the oratorio proper commences; it consists of a dialogue between Gerontius, alternately offering supplication and despairing, and the clerical assistants, praying for his soul. Hope is found in the buoyant and noble "Proficisere" of the priest ("Go upon thy journey, Christian soul!"), in Elgar 's nobilmente mode, answered by the chorus of assistants and subsiding to a serene close.

Part Two commences, again nebulous but purged of torment, as Gerontius' soul speculates on this strange new existence and is joined by his angel who will lead him to the Almighty. They travel past the underworld, depicted in the "Demon's Chorus" by a restless, shadowy fugue punctuated by grotesque laughter. The angel assures the soul that they are past their harm, and presently they come before the choir of angels, depicted in the work's most glorious music, "Praise to the Holiest." This ethereal and childlike section is usually performed by a children's chorus. The soul is brought before God, inspiring uncomprehending awe; at this point comes Gerontius' moving aria, "Take me away." The angel soothes Gerontius and returns him to a gentler leave-taking, as the oratorio comes to a serene, transfigured close with "The Angel's Farewell," perhaps Elgar 's most sensitive music. Parts/Movements No. 2, Jesu Maria, I am near to death No. 3, Kyrie eleison No. 4, Rouse thee, my fainting soul No. 5, Sanctus fortis No.

6, I can no more No. 7, Rescue him, O Lord No. 8, Proficiscere, anima Christiana No. 9, Go in the name of Angels No. 10, I went to sleep No. 11, It is a member of that family No. 12a, Low-born clods of brute earth No. 12b, Dispossessed, aside thrust No. 13, I see not those false spirits No. 14, Praise to the Holiest No. 15a, But hark! a grand mysterious harmony No. 15b, Praise to the Holiest No. 16, Thy judgement now is near No. 17, Jesu! by that shuddering dread No. 18, Take me away No. 19, Lord, Thou hast been our refuge No. 20, Softly and gently Appears On The Oratorio - History and Composers The Oratorio By Espie Estrella Characteristics of the Oratorio An oratorio is an extended composition for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra ; the narrative text is usually based on scripture or biblical stories but is non-liturgical.

Although the oratorio is often about sacred subjects, it may also deal with semi-sacred subjects. This large-scale work is often compared to an opera , but unlike the opera, the oratorio often doesn't have acting, costumes and scenery. The chorus is an important element of an oratorio and the narrator's recitatives help move the story forward. History of the Oratorio During the mid-1500s, an Italian priest by the name of San Filippo Neri founded the Congregation of the Oratory. The said priest held religious meetings that was so well attended a room had to be built to accommodate the participants. The room were they held these meetings was called the Oratory; later the term would also refer to the musical performances presented during their meetings. Notable Composers of Oratorios Early examples of oratorios include the "Representation of Soul and Body" (La rappresentazione di anima e di corpo) by the Italian composer Emilio del Cavaliere and the 16 oratorios based on the Old Testament written by the Italian composer Giacomo Carissimi.

continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World Oratorios remained popular in Italy until the 18th century. The oratorios written by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, especially "The Denial of St. Peter" (Le Reniement de saint Pierre), helped establish oratorios in France. In Germany, composers like Heinrich Schütz ("Easter Oratorio"), Johann Sebastian Bach ("Passion According to St. John" and "Passion According to St. Matthew") and George Frideric Handel ("Messiah" and "Samson") explored this genre further. By the 17th century, non-biblical text was used in oratorios and by the 18th century, stage action was removed. The popularity of the oratorio waned after the 1750s. Later examples of oratorios include "Elijah" by the German composer Felix Mendelssohn , L'Enfance du Christ by the French composer Hector Berlioz and "Dream of Gerontius" by the English composer Edward Elgar . Reference: oratorio (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica.

Retrieved October 06, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online oratorio. In The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie © Macmillan Press Ltd., London Otten, J. (1911). Oratorio. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 6, 2009 from New Advent: Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius; Sea Pictures - Andrew Davis | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius; Sea Pictures AllMusic Rating google+ AllMusic Review by James Manheim Edward Elgar 's giant cantata (the composer rejected the term oratorio) The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, which appeared in 1900, has always been a popular work among British choirs and traditionally minded audiences. Outside of Britain its heavy Cardinal Newman tale of a soul going through divine judgment, redolent of Catholic theological detail (even British Anglicans demanded revisions), and massive orchestration have proven less appealing.

Yet the work hangs on, for there's a certain fascination in seeing how wholeheartedly Elgar accepted the influence of Wagner , especially that of Parsifal. This is as Germanic as British music gets. What's required to bring it off is strong soloists on one hand and a conductor who keeps it all from slipping into murk on the other. This handsome Chandos release succeeds on both counts, with a very strong Wagnerian tenor, Stuart Skelton , in the role of Gerontius, a uniformly good supporting cast, and classically clear work in the choruses from the BBC Symphony Chorus . The text is included, but listeners could get away without using it in many sections. The Angel, contralto Sarah Connolly , is again a pure Wagnerian, and introducing the program with the five Sea Pictures, Op. 37, is a bonus here, as is the engineering work of Chandos in the relatively uncommon (except to pro wrestling devotees) venue of Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Recommended if The Dream of Gerontius rings your bell.

Track Listing - Disc 1 Elgar - His Music : The Dream of Gerontius Dedicated to : AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) Cardinal Newman's poem tells of the journey of a man's soul after death - Gerontius may be translated roughly as old man. Elgar was given a copy of the poem in 1889 as a wedding present. But, while he undoubtedly toyed with the idea of setting it to music intermittently over the intervening period, the decision to do so for the 1900 Birmingham festival appears to have been taken somewhat at the last minute - his earlier ideas for the festival describe a work which eventually emerged as The Apostles . The first performance was not a success. Neither W C Stockley, the chorus master, nor Hans Richter, the conductor, had grasped the complexity of the work and allowed insufficient time for rehearsals. But the more perceptive members of the audience recognised the work's merit. These included Julius Buths, director of the Lower Rhine Festival, who staged the work in Dusseldorf in 1901.

The performance, to a packed audience of 2500, was an unqualified success and was followed in March 1903 by further acclaimed performances on successive nights - the first by the Halle Orchestra, under Richter in Manchester, the second in Hanley with Elgar himself conducting. Today, the work is undoubtedly the most popular of all Elgar's choral works, and indeed among the most frequently performed of all his works. Surely no-one can remain unmoved by the priest's invocation to Gerontius - as part 1 ends - to 'go forth' ('Proficiscere, anima Christiana'); nor, in part 2, by the chorus of 'Praise to the Holiest', the words of which were also taken to form the well-known hymn. But these excerpts should not be allowed overshadow much other beautiful writing in the piece. And, while early commentators may have been wary of the work's essentially Catholic stance (the composer Charles Villiers Stanford is reported to have said the work 'stank of incense'), most now are struck more by the dramatic intensity and integrity of the subject. The work continues to be performed regularly throughout Britain.

3 October 2000 saw the centenary of the work's first performance, leading to a much increased interest in the work. In recognition of this interest, and as a service both to performers and to visitors to this website, we have expanded our coverage of the work by adding new pages providing more detailed coverage of the history of the work and of the coming year's events. Follow the links in the box below to reach these additional pages. . 'The Dream of Gerontius' is Elgar's masterpiece - The Boston Globe A composer's faith rewarded For Elgar, 'The Dream of Gerontius' went from mistake to masterpiece Edward Elgar (above) based the oratorio, which premiered in 1900, on a 19th-century poem by John Henry Cardinal Newman. (The new york times) Email | Print | Text size – + By Matthew Guerrieri Globe Correspondent / January 20, 2008 The premiere of "The Dream of Gerontius," on Oct. 3, 1900, was a disaster. Having poured his soul into its composition, Edward Elgar was despondent. "I always said God was against art," he wrote.

Elgar had, characteristically, overreacted. More than one critic had glimpsed through the veil of the poor performance the grand outlines of what would soon be considered Elgar's masterpiece. Within three years, the oratorio having triumphed in Germany and America, Elgar would conduct the London premiere in the newly built Westminster Cathedral. The Boston Symphony Orchestra performs the work this week. At the time, however, Elgar's disappointment was very real. With the successful debut of the "Enigma" Variations in 1899, he was, at age 42, on the cusp of establishment success, but the initial failure of the ambitious "Gerontius" seemed to presage a return to provincial obscurity. The son of a shopkeeper, a Catholic in Anglican Britain, Elgar had spent years on the outside looking in. No wonder the journey of the Everyman figure Gerontius - from earthly life through death to divine judgment, one initiation after another - seized Elgar's imagination.

When asked by the composer what she thought of the vast "Praise to the holiest" chorus that anchors the second part of "Gerontius," Dora Penny (a dedicatee of one of the "Enigma" Variations) said, "It makes me think of great doors opening and shutting." "That is exactly what I mean," Elgar confirmed. Elgar's emotional connection with Gerontius gives the character a personal dimension missing from John Henry Cardinal Newman's original poem. At the same time, it amplifies the universality of Gerontius's condition. Sir Colin Davis, who will conduct the BSO's "Gerontius" this week, summed it up by phone from London earlier this month. "We're all outsiders from the first, really, and I think that's something we all feel," Davis says. "What are we here for, and why, and how long are you going to last? And is there anything beyond us?" Religious outpouring Newman was, for much of his life, perceived as something of an outsider himself.

When the Anglican vicar famously joined the Catholic church in 1845, it was only the latest in a series of conversions: atheism to Christianity, Low Church liberalism to High Church authoritarianism, a series of thresholds rivaling his protagonist's. His elevation to cardinal came only after the death of Pope Pius IX, who mistrusted Newman's unusual mix of mystical faith and skeptical inquiry. "God intends me to be lonely," Newman once wrote. "He has so framed my mind that I am in a great measure beyond the sympathies of other people and thrown upon Himself." "The Dream of Gerontius" poured out in a rush: the original manuscript was divided among 52 scraps of paper, Newman grabbing whatever was at hand in the heat of inspiration. (He later claimed the poem was "written by accident.") The title character - whose name is a play on the Greek word for "old man" - continued a long tradition of generic heroes in didactic religious allegories, but Newman's poem was explicitly Catholic, in particular his portrayal of purgatory, a place of temporal punishment for imperfect souls requiring further purification before entrance into paradise.

At the poem's climax, Gerontius's soul, shriveled and burned by the presence of God, is sent to purgatory, happy in the expectation of his eventual salvation. "It's an amazing, almost startling portrayal of Catholic theology," says tenor Ben Heppner, who will sing the role of Gerontius in this week's performances. And, Heppner thinks, even those portions which seem unmistakably Victorian, Elgar makes new: "The music transcends the poem's time and place." Elgar elides much of Newman's theological exegesis; even Gerontius's deathbed profession of faith, "Sanctus fortis," becomes a bravura tenor aria of near-Wagnerian cast, the chromatic, yearning melody as much about his fear of the unknown as his catechism. "It does seem to be a bit incongruous," Heppner acknowledges - a dying man singing with the clarion force of a Parsifal. But for Elgar, Gerontius's inner state trumps his sentimental deathbed scene.

"His body may be weak," Heppner says, "but his emotions are huge." Davis points out that the theology is only an earthly frame for the eventual unearthly journey. "Many people bridle at the specific things which presumably Gerontius believes in - the teachings of the church, and the priest, and the 'kyrie eleison,' and all that," Davis says. "These are the trappings of the religion that we know." But after Gerontius's soul leaves his body, "we don't really know where we are" - the scene shifts to a purely conjectural vision of the afterlife. Once Elgar enables Gerontius to claim our sympathy, the ineffable vision becomes immediate. Exploratory mission Elgar's abridgment also leaves open the question of who exactly is having the "Dream" referred to in the title: Gerontius? Newman? Us? Davis notes the possibility that life itself may be the dream. "It's been expressed by many people before - they feel their lives are very dreamlike," he says.

"Am I just somebody else's dream?" ("I wish they'd wake up sometimes!" he muses.) The oratorio unfolds with intuitive, sometimes impulsive spontaneity, the music held together with an ingenious use of Wagnerian leitmotifs rather than formal scaffolding. "The music is so extraordinary, and flexible, and expressive; it's much looser in performance than it even looks on the page," Davis says. "He couldn't have structured it in a classical tempo, because it's exploratory, really." Elgar's exploration retains its power because his subject remains, after all, undiscoverable to mortal minds. "It's a unique piece, because he's trying to tell us about an experience which he hasn't experienced," Davis says. "I don't know if you can call it a revolutionary piece, but he was breaking new ground. And I think that's what makes it so terribly touching.

Because he really believes in it all." Davis is now 80, an age at which he acknowledges that his interest in "Gerontius" has become more personal: "I'm nearing my end, and I must say, it's a very peculiar feeling, of being trapped in this mad life that you've been trying to make sense of." The gap between Elgar's cinematic vividness and the subject's ultimate mystery still provokes, comforts, and disturbs. "I think that Elgar, in his way, whatever his own ideas about the piece, he is feeding our imaginations," Davis says. "That's what art is supposed to do." © Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company. The Dream of Gerontius | work by Elgar | Britannica.com The Dream of Gerontius THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. Learn about this topic in these articles: in Sir Edward Elgar ...in 1899, brought Elgar recognition as a leading composer and became his most frequently performed composition. In 1900 there followed another major work, the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, which many consider his masterpiece.

Based on a poem by John Henry Cardinal Newman, it dispensed with the traditional admixture of recitatives, arias, and choruses,... in oratorio: Oratorio after 1750 A masterpiece of 20th-century English oratorio is Sir Edward Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (1900). The poem by Cardinal Newman on which it is based has a dramatic framework within which the music could expand without becoming disorderly. Igor Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex (1927), with a Latin text, was most successful in the opera house. The Swiss Frank Martin was one of...

Daniel Barenboim conducts Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” Daniel Barenboim conducts Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” Anna Larsson, Ian Storey, Kwangchoul Youn, Rundfunkchor Berlin Edward Elgar The Dream of Gerontius (01:41:05) Anna Larsson Mezzo-Soprano, Ian Storey Tenor, Kwangchoul Youn Bass, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Simon Halsey Chorus Master free Artist biographies As the BBC once said in the introduction to a concert, Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is seen in Great Britain as a “national monument”. While the work enjoys nearly the same esteem as Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah in its native, almost every performance abroad is seen as a rediscovery. And it is to such that the Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor Daniel Barenboim invite you with this concert. To make The Dream of Gerontius comprehensible to audiences, comparisons are often drawn – but these only partially go to the core of the work.

Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration is comparable, according to some: As with Elgar, it is about someone dying who ultimately achieves heavenly bliss, but in contrast to Strauss, it is not about fighting and heroism, but a spiritual vision of the transition to the afterlife. Parallels are also often drawn to Wagner’s music, which Elgar revered. The through-composed structure is doubtlessly inspired by Wagner in that there is no division into arias and choruses. And there are also some elements reminiscent of Parsifal. Overall, however, The Dream of Gerontius is a completely independent composition with an individual musical language and a penetrating power of faith. One of the first continental Europeans who recognized the value of the oratorio was, incidentally, Richard Strauss, who after a performance, praised Elgar as “the first English progressive musician”. “... a strange refreshment ...” Edward Elgar’s Oratorio The Dream of Gerontius A Vision of Death and the Afterlife Praying, dreaming, dying: a soul is divested of its earthly covering and awakens in the world of spirit. Led by an angel he passes by the demons assembled at the judgement court and approaches the throne of God.

Intercession by the Angel of the Agony brings him a lenient judgement. His Soul is gently lowered by the Angel into the waters of Purgatory to await its reawakening. Nearly 100 minutes of music for a story that takes place outside of time and space. Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, composed in 1900 and first performed that year in Birmingham under the great Austrian conductor Hans Richter, is the setting of a poem by John Henry Cardinal Newman. Much-loved and performed in Britain and, to a lesser extent, other English-speaking countries, Gerontius in this country is rarely given except by choral societies, even though the first German performance (a “most excellent interpretation”, wrote the correspondent from the Times of London) took place only a year after the under-rehearsed, nearly disastrous Birmingham premiere – sung in German translation and conducted by Julius Buth, in Düsseldorf, the birthplace of Elgar’s publisher and closest friend A. J. Jaeger.

In 1902, another performance in that city was enthusiastically acclaimed by Richard Strauss and, the same year, Gerontius was first performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker,under the baton of Ferruccio Busoni. The Composer and his Life Elgar, generally considered one of the most English of all English composers, always felt himself to be an outsider. Being a Roman Catholic was a source of tension in a staunchly Protestant land, and being an artist was something he felt a need to suppress in the staid social establishment of his provincial upbringing. Nevertheless, his wife, a general’s daughter, went over the Roman faith before the birth of their son, even though Elgar’s Protestant father, a music dealer in Worcester and organist at that city’s St. George’s Roman Catholic Church, officially converted to Catholicism only on his deathbed. Edward helped out his father in the shop and in church, where, with little formal training, he absorbed whatever he could and soon became proficient on the piano, organ and bassoon as well as on the violin (which he played in the Worcester Festival, including under Dvořák) and as a violin teacher and conductor of church and workers’ choirs.

Elgar wrote his great choral works for festivals. The Dream of Gerontius and his subsequent oratorios The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906) as well as the ode The Music Makers (1912) were all composed for the Birmingham Triennial Festival, whose earlier commissions had included Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Elgar’s steady production of monumental works ended abruptly, however, with the death of his wife in 1920. A few years later he began a major series of recordings, conducting his own works for HMV, but even with the encouragement in 1932 of his friend George Bernard Shaw, he was unable to complete the composition of his Third Symphony, which remained fragmentary at his death two years later. The Dream, a Dying Newman’s epic poem The Dream of Gerontius appeared in 1865 and found great favour even in non-Catholic circles. Elgar received a copy in 1889, probably as a wedding present, although he had first read the poem much earlier and for many years pondered how he might set it to music.

Then in 1900, he completed the huge score of his oratorio within a few months. He had prepared the libretto himself, making substantial cuts in the text, especially the second part, after discussions with Fr. Richard Bellasis, trustee of Cardinal Newman’s literary estate. The remarkable rigour of Elgar’s composition overcomes any lack of external drama and makes the difficult subject matter accessible to all listeners. Part I, just over half an hour in length and introduced by a thematically concentrated orchestral prelude in D major/minor, is taken up with Gerontius’s prayers, dreams and death, culminating in the Priest sending his Soul on its way to Heaven. Gentle exultation is the basic tone of Part II, lasting roughly an hour, in which the Soul is accompanied by the Angel on its final journey. The belief that all things that decay are “only a likeness” (Goethe), all things earthly only a trial for departing from and entering the spiritual world, has seldom been set to music as potently yet serenely as in this work. Even the immediate fear of physical death that briefly afflicts Gerontius at the end of Part I is depicted with comparative discretion by the orchestra.

The string complement, subdivided into 16 parts, is initially held down to pppp until the harmony takes on an unusual chromatic colouring, underscoring the dying man’s struggle. At once, the chorus cries out “Rescue him, O Lord” and then it too is magically divided: a semi-chorus, supported by the organ, prays for Gerontius; it is answered by the larger chorus with melismatic Amens. In Part II, Elgar divides the chorus into Demons, Angels, Souls in Purgatory and praying “Voices on Earth”. Although The Dream of Gerontius is primarily conceived as a choral work, it contains a highly demanding solo part, one requiring great stamina: the tenor, who portrays Gerontius in Part I and his Soul in Part II. He is present over long stretches of the work and must stand up to a large ensemble throughout an extremely wide and differentiated range of dynamics, mostly restrained. Alongside him is the solo bass embodying the Priest praying for Gerontius in Part I and the Angel of the Agony praying for his Soul in Part II.

When Gerontius awakens in the second part and, against gently pulsating strings, feels “a strange refreshment”, a guiding Angel (mezzo-soprano) appears and enters into a dialogue in recitative with the Soul that forms the framework of Part II upon which the successive otherworldly phases unfold. The Dream of Gerontius has often been compared with Wagner’s Parsifal, which surely says more about the inspiration of Elgar’s work than its execution. As a detailed compositional vision of the hereafter – apart from settings of the Requiem – Gerontius is a musical rarity. Perhaps the most astonishing exception to that assertion was provided by Gustav Mahler, whose Fourth Symphony, ending with the song Das himmlische Leben (Heavenly Life), was composed at the same time as but completely independently of Gerontius. At first glance, no work could seem farther removed from Elgar’s oratorio than this symphony in which Mahler makes use of such far-flung elements as sleighbells and a mistuned violin.

The apparent irony of the cheerful hereafter conjured up in Mahler’s finale with soprano solo, based on a text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, also seems worlds away from the solemn gravity of Cardinal Newman and Elgar. In fact, the opposite is true. It was by no means the intention of Mahler, who had converted to Catholicism only three years before, to poke fun at the eschatology of his newly acquired faith. Mahler completed the draft score of his Fourth on 6 August 1900, exactly two months after Elgar wrote the final bar of Gerontius. The last lines set by Mahler in the symphony read: “Die englischen Stimmen / Ermuntern die Sinnen, / Dass alles für Freuden erwacht” (“The angelic voices / delight the senses, / for all things awake to joy.” Elgar at the end of Gerontius has the Angel sing: “Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; … And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.” Both works then die away in the major as softly as possible – these two great visionaries leave the final awakening to us listeners.

Olaf Wilhelmer Translation: Richard Evidon Daniel Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker can look back on an artistic partnership lasting forty-five years. It was as a pianist that Barenboim made his debut with the orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez in June 1964. He first conducted the orchestra five years later. At his most recent appearance in April 2010 he conducted works by Brahms, Wagner, and Elgar. As soloist, he performed the two Chopin Piano Concertos with the orchestra in October 2010 (concductor: Asher Fisher). Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 but moved to Israel with his parents ten years later. His first piano teacher was his mother, followed by his father. He was ten when he made his professional debut in Vienna and Rome, and it was not long before he was undertaking international tours. He made his conducting debut in London in 1967 and since then has appeared with leading orchestras throughout Europe and the United States.

The most important stages in his career to date have been as principal conductor of the Orchestre de Paris from 1975 to 1989, as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 2006 and as general music director of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden since 1992. In the autumn of 2002 the Berlin Staatskapelle appointed him principal conductor for life. Barenboim has additionally appeared as a guest conductor at many international festivals, including the Bayreuth Festival, where he conducted a number of important productions every year from 1981 to 1999. Since the start of the 2007/08 season he has also worked closely with La Scala, Milan, in the role of Maestro Scaligero and since December 2011 as their Music Director. In 1999 Barenboim and the Palestinian writer Edward Said set up the West-Eastern Divan Workshop, which every summer brings together young musicians from Israel and the Arab countries in order that the shared experience of communal music-making may encourage dialogue between the different cultures of the Middle East.

In 2002 Barenboim and Said received the Príncipe de Asturias Prize for their peace efforts in fostering international understanding. Among other awards that Daniel Barenboim has received are the Großes Verdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize; he was named »Grand officier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur« in France and »Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire«. The Rundfunkchor Berlin, founded in 1925, produced great musical moments of the 1920s and 30s under the direction of conductors such as George Szell, Hermann Scherchen, Otto Klemperer and Erich Kleiber. After the Second World War, the choir and its principal conductor Helmut Koch made the oratorios of Handel internationally known in their original versions.

Dietrich Knothe (1982 – 1993) formed the choir into a precision instrument for the most difficult of works; Robin Gritton (1994 – 2001) both enriched and refined the ensemble’s palette of colours. Since 2001, the Rundfunkchor Berlin has been led by Simon Halsey, who places particular emphasis on stylistic and linguistic perfection, resulting in lively and exciting performances of works from all periods and in all styles. Their work together is documented by a busy recording schedule; recently their CD of Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’amour de loin with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester conducted by Kent Nagano won the 2010 Grammy Award for best opera recording. Simon Halsey, who was awarded the “Bundesverdienstkreuz” (Cross of the Order of Merit) in January 2011, has also initiated many of the choir’s education and outreach projects, the interdisciplinary event series Broadening the Scope of Choral Music as well as the annual Sing-along Concert.

The choir has been a partner of leading orchestras and conductors all over the world, including long-standing partnerships with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and the Berliner Philharmoniker. The Rundfunkchor Berlin last appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2011 performing Poulenc’s Gloria, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Kwangchul Youn received his musical training in his native South Korea as well as in Sofia and Berlin. A winner of several competitions, he gave his debut in 1988 in Seoul, and was an ensemble member at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin from the 1993/94 season until 2004. Since then, engagements have taken him to the major opera houses, such as those in Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hamburg, London, Paris, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and New York. Kwangchul Youn’s repertoire includes stage works by Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Gounod, Verdi, Strauss and, in particular, Richard Wagner.

The bass performs at prestigious festivals (such as Bayreuth, Ludwigsburg and Salzburg) and also enjoys international success on the concert stage. In addition, he regularly gives recitals with his regular accompanist Helmut Oertel. Kwangchul Youn performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time in May 2002 in the bass role of Mozart’s Requiem under the baton of Daniel Barenboim; his most recent Berlin concerts with the orchestra were in mid-March 2007 with three performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, conducted by Bernard Haitink. Since 2009, Youn Kwangchoul has been a professor at the College of Music at Seoul National University. Ian Storey is from Chilton in the English county of Durham. He first studied furniture design at the University of Loughborough before training as a singer in New Zealand and London (including at the National Opera Studio), Milan and Trieste. His stage career began in 1991 at Opera East as the Male Chorus in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

Since then, Ian Storey has developed a broad repertoire which, in addition to the standard works of the 19th and 20th century from Bizet to Shostakovich, also includes rarely-heard operas such as The Olympians by Arthur Bliss and A Tale of Two Cities by Arthur Benjamin. Engagements have taken the tenor not only to the major British opera companies, but also to La Scala in Milan, Zurich Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the Washington National Opera and, in Berlin, to the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater. In addition, he has also performed at major festivals such as those at Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, St Gallen and Torre del Lago. In addition to his opera commitments, the artist is also invited to perform as a concert soloist with leading symphony orchestras; this will be his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2008, Ian Storey was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by Loughborough University, and is the official representative of the English county of Herefordshire.

The Swedish singer Anna Larsson has established herself on the opera stage and in the concert hall as one of the most renowned altos internationally. Her repertoire ranges from Monteverdi’s Orfeo, the great masses of Bach and Beethoven, Verdi’s Requiem and the vocal-symphonic works of Brahms and Mahler, to Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah).As an opera singer, Anna Larsson focuses on roles in the music dramas of Richard Wagner in which she has appeared at theatres such as the Royal Opera houses in Copenhagen and Stockholm, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the state opera houses in Vienna, Munich and Berlin and at festivals including Salzburg, Florence and Aix-en-Provence. This season, she sings Erda in Das Rheingold at the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater in Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. The artist regularly performs with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

She made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the soprano part in Mahler’s Second Symphony (conducted by Claudio Abbado) during a European tour by the orchestra in October 1997; she most recently performed with the orchestra in Berlin as Erda in Wagner’s Rheingold conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in mid-June 2006. Anna Larsson, who is also a passionate performer of lieder, was named Royal Court Singer by King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2010. In summer 2011 she opened her own concert hall Vattnäs Konsertlada near Mora (Sweden). Daniel Barenboim appears by courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Watch now

Question: Who was the composer of the Oratorio, "The Dream Of Gerontius"?
Answer: SIR EDWARD ELGAR